"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter."
E.E. Cummings
The first thing out of my rather groggy 1st graders mouth yesterday morning, stinky breath and all: "How many sleeps until the dentist?" You see, my two youngest daughters are
As the afternoon grew gloomier and gloomier, we decided a game of I Spy was in order. Now, I Spy can be a rather fun game. It can also be rather boring. But when you play it with my youngest child, it is neither of these things. It is freaking hilarious. Because she stares at the item she has selected with more focus than a lion that is stalking it's prey...and then she cannot for the life of her figure out how her opponent successfully guesses the item right off the bat. So she just giggles. And giggles. And giggles. And pretty soon, her opponent decides to use the same technique to create more giggling. And then everyone is giggling so hard that it's hard to actually see the color of anything anyway. Game over. Good times, I tell ya. Good times.
My voice student arrives. She's preparing for a performance. I grabbed a mic stand out of the garage for her to practice her stage presence and the like (don't all people keep mic stands in their garages?? Oh. Really? Well then, never mind.) The music starts. I feel a giggle about to erupt. I desperately try to contain it, I really do try, but I cannot. I bust up laughing, unable to explain why I just interrupted her very heartfelt rendition of the song "True Colors." She looks at me as if I'm certifiable...which isn't too far off...but still. "I'm sorry," I tell her once I'm able to compose myself. "You have black grease all over your nose and I can't possible sit here and watch you sing this song without laughing until I cry. Your singing is fine...but...well...please just go wipe it off." It still makes me laugh just thinking about it. It was hilarious. But maybe you had to be there...
Bedtime. I went to tuck my kids in. I walked into the blue bedroom and pulled back the blue covers to reveal what I thought would be my son in his blue pajamas. It wasn't. It was a conglomeration of not-blue tissues & stuffed animals along with an impressively creative use of a car track filling in for his legs. As I was realizing that he pulled an "Escape from Alcatraz" maneuver on me (which happens to be one of my favorite movies...don't ask, I don't know why) something grabs my leg from under the bed. And growls. I wet myself. Well, not quite. But I did jump. He got me. He got me good. And he knew it, too. His laughter proved it.
Ah, laughter. It's a good thing. It's a needed thing. I can remember days that I didn't laugh much at all. But that has drastically changed...and I feel I need to put you all at ease about that after yesterday's post. I have my moments, yes. But one of the many things that God has restored in my life is my laughter. Some of the most poignant reminders of God's faithfulness are when people say things like "It's good to hear you laugh, Beck." If you hear me laughing, it's the real deal. It is literally impossible for me to fake belly-laugh, my courtesy laughs are awful and I detest being tickled. Seriously. I hate it. My laughter can only be created out of the kind of joy that runs true and deep. And I do not AT ALL take that laughter for granted. Woody Allen says it best...
"I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose."
OK, perhaps that's not quite the closer I was looking for. How about this one...
"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength" Proverbs 17:22.
Yes, that's better.
Make sure you laugh today. And if you can't find anything to laugh at, come on over. I'm sure I'll do something stupid enough to cause at least a slight giggle to surface.
2 comments:
Great post! I love that God is filling your home with much-needed laughter. (And your boy's bedtime joke? That's pretty funny!)
True...it was funny. However, it was NOT funny when he decided to hide under the couch when it was time to leave for school this morning. That kid... :)
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